Chapter 2: Sister Hunt

"Good, you're up." The large black maned lion, Tome, said to Jayden and Drayden as he stood and stretched. Tome and Vitani usually slept just outside their Pride's cave. It wasn't a very large cave, in fact, it could be better described as a crevice. The end border of Vitani's Pride's lands was a huge rock wall that reached far into the sky. In the wall was the crevice the Pride used for shelter during harsh weather, or if there were something dangerous prowling outside. There was just enough room inside for all members to lay side by side, or for one of them to pace back and forth. On the outside, attached to the rock wall were boulders and large rocks that had vines growing on them. It gave the crevice a mysterious and alluring feel. Vitani's cubs had been born in that beautiful place.

"Good morning, Sir." Drayden said stiffly as he always did. Tome had tried time after time to get Drayden to address him in a less formal way, but he couldn't help it. His respect and gratefulness for Tome having taken him in came through Drayden's speech no matter what he said.

"Good morning to you both. Ready to work?"

"Yes." Jayden replied.

Vitani, who was beside Tome, rose as well. "Since you seem so eager to go, Jayden, you're on hunting duty. Drayden you too. And get Dayya."

"I'll join the hunt with you. Come get me when you're ready." Tome said.

Drayden put his muzzle next to Jayden's brown ear and whispered, "What a surprise." She smiled a little, but still replied to her mother, "Right away."

The two young adults went in search of Dayya, and found the light-red lioness sprawled out under a nearby tree. Dignity gone, Dayya was belly up, with the top of her head arched back, resting on the Earth. Her front paw was reached up over her head, and the other rested on her chest. Her tail was flopped over her back right foot. The foot was twitching as if she were dreaming.

"How can that be comfortable?" Drayden said quietly, trying not to laugh.

"I don't know." Jayden said, then cleared her throat loudly, hoping to wake her easily. But Dayya was as stubborn in sleep as she was in wakefulness, and she didn't stir.

"Allow me." Drayden offered, and he moved closer to her. He lowered his muzzle near her face, his light-brown mane hanging. He whispered, "Zebra… Antelope. Gazelle… we caught it all."

Dayya's eyes remained closed, but she had heard him in her sleep, for she began licking her lips.

"I saved you a chunk of fat from the belly. Your favorite part." He continued.

She licked her lips again. Drayden started to laugh, and even Jayden chuckled a little. Dayya's eyes suddenly opened.

"What?" she said.

"Nothing." Drayden replied as he tried to stop laughing.

"Good dreams, Dayya?" Jayden asked with a smirk.

"Excellent! I was having a wonderful breakfast." She stood and shook off the grass and leaves that clung to her pelt.

"That dream is about to come true, come on, we're going hunting." Jayden said.

"Yes!" Dayya was already energetic and enthusiastic.

Jayden had always known she and her sister were very different from each other, and hunting was just one more difference. Dayya loved hunting. She loved being in a team with others, following or giving direction, and chasing game. She was good at it. Jayden thought she mostly enjoyed it because of the attention. Dayya often got praised for her skills in bringing down the kill the fastest. Even Vitani, who only gave sparingly, complimented her almost each time she hunted.

The three of them trotted back to pick up Tome, and they'd be off to hunt.

It's not that Jayden hated hunting… she just found it tiring and a little boring. She had twisted a paw more than once, and one time, a hoof almost bucked right into her jaw. Jayden had heard Larne tell a story once about a lioness she once knew who had her jaw broken by an animal's strong kick. The lioness was unable to eat as her jaw hung uselessly under her mouth. The lioness starved and died.

The image always stuck with Jayden through her life. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose the ability to eat in one swift movement of a hoof. First the pain, then the hopeless, useless feeling, knowing you were going to die of starvation. So ever since hearing that story, a lot of Jayden's hunts had failed because at the last second, she hesitated too long, or pulled her head away from the animal's fleeing feet instead of making that final leap and pin.

Now as Jayden, Dayya, Drayden, and Tome headed out, the dark brown lioness promised herself not to hesitate at the end if given the chance.

I'll try extra hard today… just to prove I can do it.

Tome let Dayya lead since she were the better hunter. Dayya's silliness and playfulness ended when on the hunt. She was still and silent. Mature even. She gave direction to them with flicks of her ears or her tail. Today, they stalked a herd of wildebeest.

Dayya and her team quietly moved closer, keeping as low to the ground as possible. The tall yellow grass mostly covered them. The four were spread out, but all could still see their leader as she dolled out instructions. A flick of her right ear told Jayden to go right. She obeyed without seeing Drayden or her father's instructions, but she heard them moving as well.

Jayden stalked right, making sure to step over a twig and a branch without touching it.

The herd was calmly milling around munching on grass. Luckily, the head male who stood alert, was at the other end of the medium-to-large herd. At this time, Dayya and the others were to pick out a weak point in the herd. Somewhere they could infiltrate and ambush easily, like a couple who had wandered too far, or an injured or elderly. Jayden didn't see any at first, so she kept moving on, slowly, quietly.

She was studying the herd so intently, she hadn't realized how far she went. She was almost near the lead male, so she stopped.

I went too far. I should head back.

Before she could turn around, a pounding of hooves told her Dayya had found a weak point. The wildebeest nearest Jayden looked around in confusion for a moment, eyes wide, then they all began to run. Jayden ducked away to a safe distance so she wouldn't get trampled. Coming at her suddenly was a smaller wildebeest, a youngling, and trailing it was Dayya. Jayden readied herself as her sister shouted, "It's you!" Meaning she was expected to handle it.

I can't let her down. Jayden ran at the smaller beast, and didn't have to go far until it saw her. It was too late, and with jaws and claws wide open, Jayden leaped at the beast's chest. The impact was hard but not as hard as it would have been if she had attacked an adult that way. Be she knew better than to do that.

Jayden's body weight was just enough to knock the wildebeest on its side and even though it's legs were thrashing, the brown lioness kept her full weight over its chest and neck. Something cracked and the beast bleated loudly. Dayya appeared then, and bit its neck, killing it. She pulled away, mouth bloody and said,

"You did it! Come on, let's go!"

Jayden nodded, allowing herself a small amount of pride creep up. She raced after Dayya as she bolted away. Ahead, Drayden was chasing an adult wildebeest, but he was losing speed. The sisters doubled their speed to catch up, and this time Dayya motioned for Jayden to go left. She did, and the red lioness went right. They flanked the wildebeest Drayden was chasing. It looked panicked and moved away from Jayden when it saw her, but bleated with surprise when it saw another lioness on its other side. It took on more speed.

Jayden had to act or it would get away. She leaped at the beast's face, and shouted, "RAH!" Not intending to attack, but intending to scare it. The ploy worked, and the beast jumped in surprise, moving right into Dayya's path. She leaped on its back while simultaneously scratching deeply in its neck with her back claws. It let out a final call, then fell while Jayden added her weight to Dayya's. This wildebeest was older, and much bigger than the other. It was scrambling with all its strength to stand. It might have gotten away, but Drayden finally caught up and quickly moved to the beast's thrashing head, held it down with his paws, and sunk his teeth into its neck.

When it was over, the three young lions got off the kill and Dayya cheered. "Way to go! Especially you, Jayden." The red lioness excitedly jumped at her sister, putting her paws on Jayden's shoulders. The sisters smiled and Jayden felt proud again.

I did it.

The moment of joy was over quickly as they became serious again. Drayden and Dayya drug the kill as Jayden looked for her dad. She found him near the first kill, already dragging it home. When she was at his side, he let go of the kill.

"I must be getting too old to keep up with you kids." he said, only half joking.

"Oh, Dad! Well you're not too old to drag this youngling, are you? Come on."

"Oh, good, you got two!" Koru said as they got their kill in the clearing. "I could eat that little one all by myself."

It was probably true, Jayden knew. Koru had grown into a big lion, just like his dad. His brown mane was big too, and at the top, the hair was split into two parts. Long pieces went down each side of his face. His blue eyes had become charming, they were usually squinted as if he were always about to laugh.

"There will be enough for everyone, son." Tome said. "Did you help your mother with the cleaning?"

"Um…" Koru said, turning his eyes away. Jayden could tell he hadn't helped with the chore.

Vitani approached to confirm it."No, I had to move out all the bones and scraps from our last kill by myself!"

Koru looked at his paws. Dayya approached. "He must have been out with the girls again!"

"I was not!" he replied, taking a swing at her. She only laughed.

"Then what were you doing?" Tome asked.

"Well I was just… wandering…"

"To find girls!" Dayya added.

Jayden rolled his eyes. This happened a lot. Koru had become such a lady's man that anytime a girl found him, or he found a girl, it was "lust-a-first-sight."

"Say no more." Vitani said, "You're too old to be ditching family chores."

"I'm too old to partake in family chores." Koru muttered, but his parents didn't hear.

Vitani continued, "To make up for it, you are to take care of Larne in any way she needs it for the rest of the day. In fact, you can start by giving her a portion of the food before you eat yours.

Koru growled quietly, but obeyed.

"Great catches, guys." Tempest said as she walked over. Tempest had been exempt from doing the chores that morning due to a wound she had received while hunting a week ago. She had leaped on an okapi's back, and it twisted its head around. The animal's horn tore a patch of skin on her back. She did still end up catching the prey, but the wound was deep and ragged, about an inch and a half across. Larne had been taking care of it with regular washings and medicine application, but the wound didn't seem to be getting better. It hurt for Tempest to move much, but she tried not to show it.

Mani trotted over. "Tempest, should you be up? Why don't you lie down." he said with concerned yellow eyes.

"No, I'm fine."

Mani moved closer to the kill to get Tempest her share. Tome and Vitani began to dig in as well.

"Jayden!" Drayden called from where the other kill was dragged. "Come eat the kill with me."

"Ohhhhh!" Dayya shouted, prolonging the sound. "Jayden and Drayden!" she teased.

Jayden and Drayden only rolled their eyes. Jayden sat beside the peach lion, and began to eat. This wasn't the first time their names were said together in that way. The first few times it was embarrassing, but now they had come to expect it. The first time had been especially embarrassing because it was the first day that Drayden came to their Pride. When he had been introduced, Dayya had gasped when she heard his name, "Drayden and Jayden!" she had said "They have almost the same name! It must be fate!"

Ever since then, Dayya had been trying to get them together. Jayden might have enjoyed trying to love again, if her sister hadn't been trying so annoyingly hard to make it happen, and if Jayden's heart hadn't already been torn up into a million pieces.

As Jayden chewed her food, she let her mind wander to a topic she didn't often let herself ponder.

Dark.